Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Thursday, February 01, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: Stocks on Wall Street opened higher on carryover strength from yesterday's rally and some good earnings reports, especially from ExxonMobil, which we'll detail shortly. Also encouraging buyers, a measure of core inflation. The PCE rose a modest one-tenth of a percent in December. That helped the Dow to an early 33 point gain as the NASDAQ added 14 points. The upturn leveled off over the mid-session hours on light profit-taking and weakness in the tech sector. But buyers reappeared in late trading to send the blue chips to record highs. The Dow Industrial Average closed up 51.99 at a record high 12,673.68. NASDAQ Composite up 4.45 at 2,468.38, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 7.70 ending at 1,445.94. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note slid 7/32 to 98 11/32, putting the yield at 4.84 percent.
For the second day running, General Electric (GE) topped the active list, today trading 20.4 million shares. The stock moved up $0.18. There we see Equity Office (EOP) down $0.40 despite that upped Vornado bid to $56.
Motorola (MOT) a $0.10 gain.
EMC Corp (EMC) was down $0.23.
Pfizer (PFE), fifth in big board volume, gained $0.38 a share.
Then ExxonMobil (XOM) itself up $0.98. You heard about those record earnings for last year. It turned out on a per share basis, $6.55 for the year and that was up $0.19 from the Street estimate.
Time Warner (TWX) a $0.25 loss.
Ford Motor Co (F) $0.16 gain.
AT&T (T) rose $0.12.
And then Archer-Daniels Midland (ADM) up $3.47. Second quarter earnings nicely higher, $0.67 versus $0.56 last year and $0.07 above Wall Street estimates, not move in the stock.
Lehman Brothers Holdings (LEH) up $2.73. The company is boosting its annual dividend 25 percent. It'll go from $0.48 to $0.60 annually and the company also plans to buy back up to 100 million of its own shares.
Eli Lilly (LLY) up $0.65. Prudential Equity upgraded it from "neutral" to "over weight" on the positive earnings outlook for Lilly.
Then American Standard (ASD) rising $3.86. Fourth quarter earnings excluding one-time items, $0.51, up from $0.44 a year ago, about in line with Street estimates. The company predicting this year's overall earnings around $3.15 to $3.25, well above the $3.08 per share Street estimate.
Clorox Co (CLX) up $1.40, also higher earnings here, second quarter, $0.62 versus $0.55 last year.
And then Valero Energy (VLO) up $1.75. Fourth quarter earnings excluding one-time items came in at $1.59 a share. That was $0.22 above the Wall Street consensus.
Carbo Ceramics (CRR) up $8.10. This is a company that makes materials for fracturing oil and gas wells. Fourth quarter earnings $0.61, up from $0.43 last year, $0.06 above the Street estimate. Revenues shot up 37 percent.
We're still in the oil patch with Apache Corp (APA) down $1.40. Fourth quarter earnings lower, $1.56 versus last year's $2.35, $0.04 below the Street estimate. The company cited a drop in gas prices.
WP Stewart & Co Ltd (WPL) falling $3.29. William Stewart, the chairman is going to resume his duties as CEO and Merrill Lynch downgraded the stock from "neutral" to "sell."
Then SRA International (SRA) losing $4.13. Second quarter earnings $0.29, just a penny above last year and the company cut this year's guidance down to around $1.07. RBC Capital brokerage cut its price target from $26 to $21 a share, about where it is.
Google (GOOG) tumbled $19.75. It was the volume leader on NASDAQ. Great earnings out yesterday, but there's concern over the company's capital spending plans.
Dell (DELL) down $0.42. Michael Dell as we told you yesterday, is taking over the role of CEO again.
Apple (AAPL) lost nearly $1.
And Microsoft (MSFT) dropping $0.30.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) a $0.03 loss, fifth in volume.
Gilead Sciences (GILD) up $7.21. The company had a huge fourth quarter loss of $3.62, but it was due to $2 billion in charges related to its acquisition of Biogen. The company said that sales should grow by 33 percent this year.
Comcast Corp (CMCSA) down $1.43. Fourth quarter earnings tripled, $0.18 versus $0.06 last year but revenues were somewhat disappointing.
Intel (INTC) $0.15 gain.
Amgen (AMGN) down $0.88.
Research in Motion (RIMM) down $0.40 a share.
After the close, Amazon.com (AMZN) out with fourth quarter results, $0.23, down from $0.47 last year, although that was $0.02 above the Street estimate, but in after hours trading, the stock first ran up $0.60 from this price and then it fell back down to $38.40.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
